Broadcasting is 49.5% of Italy’s media sector

Italy’s media sector was worth €17.08 billion in 2015, practically unchanged to the previous year (€17.14 billion), representing 1.05 per cent of GDP.

Television and radio broadcasting accounted for 49.5 per cent of the total. Free-to-air TV grew by 1.7 per cent in the period due to the positive performance of the advertising market and TV licence fees.

The annual report, by Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom), reveals that advertising accounted for 47.9 per cent of the turnover of the media sector (47.2 per cent in 2014). Pay-TV accounted for 20.2 per cent (20.3 per cent), followed by publishing with 18.3 per cent (18.7 per cent), TV licence fee with 11.2 per cent (10.8 per cent) and other sources with 2.4 per cent (2.8 per cent).

The main players in Italy’s media sector are 21 Century Fox with 15.4 per cent (Sky Italia 15,1 per cent, Fox Network Group Italy 0,3 per cent), followed by Fininvest with 14,9 per cent (of which Mediaset 13.3 per cent, Arnoldo Mondadori publishing group 1.4 per cent); and Rai – Radio Televisione Italiana with 13,7 per cent.